Finally, the doctor came down the stairs and smiled at—atLiam, for fuck’s sake! “Calvin wants me to tell you he was right,” Kurt said. “Hedidget sick because he had chicken instead of steak last night.”
“What?” Ben demanded. Was Kurt being charmed by Liamandby Calvin?
“Food poisoning,” Kurtsaid. “Salmonella in chicken legs. I took a culture and I’ll get it analyzed to be sure, but I’m pretty confident. There’s a national recall, but it hasn’t gotten as much publicity as I’d have liked.”
“He’ll be okay?” Ben asked.
“I’ll keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn’t get dehydrated—I’ll come by again tomorrow, if that works for everyone? But, yeah, he should be fine. He’s in greatshape, especially for his age—he wanted me to be sure I told youthattoo. He wasn’t as enthusiastic about me telling you to pick up some Pedialyte, but it wouldn’t hurt. If he’ll drink it. Otherwise, water is good. No coffee, no alcohol. No spicy foods.”
“But he’s going to be okay.” Ben needed to hear it just once more.
And Kurt seemed to understand. He reached up and clapped Ben on the shoulder,then looked him in the eyes. “He’ll be okay,” he said firmly.
And Ben believed him. Mostly. But he still took a long swig of his beer and wished it was something stronger.
He and Liam showed the doctor out and then were left in the front hall together.
“I’m sleeping in your bed,” Liam said.
Ben stared at him.
“Upstairs. Calvin turned your old room into a guest room. That’s where I slept lastnight. I just thought I should mention it, because if you wanted to stay over, you’d probably want to sleep in there. And I could move, of course. To the couch, I guess?” Liam peered skeptically into the living room, clearly measuring the couch and realizing it was too short for a grown man to stretch out on.
“What’s wrong with the regular guest room?”
“What?”
“There are three bedrooms, Liam.There always have been. Did you never notice that?”
“I guess he’s using it for something else?”
“He wasn’t a couple weeks ago.” Ben frowned and started up the stairs, then down the hall without even a quick inquiry as he stormed past the bathroom.
Was this another one of Calvin’s games? The sickness seemed genuine enough, but before that, back when he’d been healthy, there was no damn reasonto put Liam in Ben’s bed. The bed the two of them had shared so many times. No reason other than game playing by an annoying, interfering—
He pushed the door to the guest room open and stopped short.
The room was jam-packed with boxes. Ben nudged one with his foot, and it moved enough to show that its contents weren’t heavy, but too little for it to be empty.
“Is Calvin a hoarder now?” Liamasked from too close behind Ben. “That’s new.”
“He’s not a hoarder.” Ben crouched and read a few labels. Party supply stores, baby shops—everything he’d need for the baby shower he’d decided to throw for Dinah and Seth. Being stored in a totally logical place. In Calvin’s home, where he could do whatever the hell he wanted, without any need to ask for Ben’s permission.
He straightened up. “Okay.Yeah, this room is out of service. And I would like to stay over, just to keep an eye on him. But you don’t need to take the couch—I can.”
“That’s stupid. You’re two inches taller than I am.”
“But you got here first. And you’re the invited guest.”
“It’s your room. There’s nothing more ‘first’ than it being your room.”
“That hasn’t been my full-time room for almost two decades. And maybe Idon’t need to stay, anyway. It’s not like I live that far away.”
“You’ll just worry if you go home. You won’t get any sleep. I’d like to say you can trust me to look after him, but we both know he’s going to be even more of a pain in the ass with me than he would be with you. And assuming Calvin’s well enough to be left alone, you’ve got a big day of building ahead of you tomorrow.” Liam lookeddown at the beer he was holding, then shrugged. “I can still drive. There’s a B&B I’ve stayed at before. I can give them a call.”
“They’re hosting the building team—the pros who were babysitting us all day? They’re from out of town. There’s no room at that inn.”
“So I’ll have somemorebeers and sleep outside. Is that hammock still up?”
“You could stay at my place,” Ben said. It was too much,too damn intimate, but it was a hell of a lot better than offering to share the bed at Uncle Calvin’s. And if they didn’t solve this issue soon, Ben knew that was the exact offer he was going to make. He’d have some rationale about it being totally platonic, just a matter of convenience, but he knew he’d blow through that at the first hint of a suggestion that Liam might be interested in more.And as devastating as it would be to have a one-night stand with Liam, it would be even worse if Liam didn’t show that tiny hint of interest to set it all off.
There was no winning that scenario. Having Liam stay at his house while Ben took his old room at Uncle Calvin’s? Awkward and weird, but not disastrous. “I have a guest room. Minimal boxes. Clean sheets.”
“Sounds like paradise, but areyou sure?”
“Absolutely.” Absolutely better to have Liam as far away as possible. That was the only way Ben had a prayer of getting through this night.
